Posts Tagged: general

News

Round 4 coming up: Honda vs. Khanna

A freeway sign to a Silicon Valley turnoff. (Photo illustration: boscorelli, via Shutterstock)

For voters in California’s 17th Congressional District, the Democratic match-up will be familiar. The Silicon Valley region is gearing up for yet another race between incumbent Congressman Mike Honda and challenger Ro Khanna, who nearly took the seat from Honda in the 2014 midterms. That year, they faced each other in the primary and, again, in the general election — which Honda won.

News

Is Rep. Xavier Becerra on Clinton’s VP list?

Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton at a May 5 East Los Angeles College rally, Monterey Park. (Photo: Joseph Sohm)

As speculation grows about Hillary Clinton’s choice for a VP running mate, one name keeps popping up, at least in California – Congressman Xavier Becerra, 58, who was born and raised in Sacramento.

News

Sharp concerns over crowded ballot

Voters in Ventura County cast ballots during a recent election. (Photo: Spirit of America, Shutterstock)

California’s clogged, high-stakes November ballot is riveting voters’ attention – and raising fears among those who have to count the votes. It’s a perfect storm: Intense interest in the presidential general election, a deluge of six dozen ballot in initiatives cleared for circulation, labor-intensive signature-verification requirements and the likelihood that the potential initiatives will be submitted in a tight time window, thus further straining resources.

News

Budget dispute over Tahoe funding

Lake Tahoe at sunset. (Photo: Dorothy Mills-Gregg

Deep in Gov. Brown’s 2016-17 budget was a big surprise for Lake Tahoe – the lake was cut out of its expected share of a $475 million environmental pie.

Analysis

CA120: Say hello to the California Voter File

Voters and potential voters at a political rally. (Photo: Joseph Sohm, via Shutterstock)

The California Voter File is a massive and constantly changing dataset. At the end of the 2012 election cycle, it grew to over 18 million voters. But with recent purges from county election files, it has dropped down to its current 17 million. As we near a major statewide election, we expect to see an uptick in registration and growth of the overall voter file. The state’s registration is likely — again — to exceed 18 million, and potentially even reach 19 million by November.

Opinion

Cutting ‘fatal flaw’ helps budget

Gov. Jerry Brown at a Capitol briefing last year on his revised state budget. Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/AP

OPINION: Californians can breathe a sigh of relief. When proponents of a 2016 ballot proposal to extend Proposition 30’s tax rates on wealthy Californians amended their measure this week, they did something that was both politically smart and fiscally sound: They eliminated a provision the governor a few days ago called the measure’s “fatal flaw”, that would have exempted this proposed new revenue from the state’s Rainy Day Fund.

Analysis

Time, the killer of campaigns

Illustration by Judd Hertzler/Capitol Weekly.

ANALYSIS: Most politicos are fans of the movie The Candidate, a 1972 political drama where a U.S. Senate candidate, Bill McKay, seeks an underdog win in his first campaign. The energy and excitement builds up for months leading to a pivotal sunny Tuesday in California when everyone heads to the polls. The movie is filled with young excited volunteers rushing out to put up door hangers, check polling locations to see who’s voted, and make phone calls to those who haven’t – all parts of the traditional get out the vote efforts known in the business as G.O.T.V. But if this campaign were a modern campaign it would also be a losing campaign.

News

Daily fantasy sports: skill or luck?

An illustration of an online dashboard for a participant in daily fantasy sports, which is growing in popularity.(Illustration: Tim Foster, Capitol Weekly)

Daily fantasy sports: What started as a seasonal pastime in offices around America has morphed into a daily, multibillion-dollar business, fueled by national TV advertising and the internet. Unlike the traditional office pool, DFS offers same-day cash rewards to winners – a big incentive. And, in California as in most states, it’s not gambling.

News

CalPERS to Vernon pension abuser: Give back $3.5 million

The CalPERS' governing board during a meeting several years ago at the pension fund's headquarters. (Photo: CalPERS board)

First CalPERS announced last year that it was cutting the eye-popping pension of a former city of Vernon official, Bruce Malkenhorst, from $551,688 a year to $115,848. Then yesterday the CalPERS board approved the recovery of a $3.5 million pension overpayment from Malkenhorst, 84, who retired in 2005 from the tiny industrial city south of downtown Los Angeles known for corruption.

News

BOE headquarters: Falling plaster, shattered glass, even bats

The headquarters building of the Board of Equalization in Sacramento, 450 N Street. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

To the passer-by, the tower at 450 N Street is a downtown landmark, soaring assertively 24 stories into the Sacramento sky. But for more than a decade, the Board of Equalization’s (BoE) headquarters building has been a nightmare to an assortment of state bureaucrats. Glass panels fall out; water leaks; elevators stop between floors; there are potentially dangerous contaminants; plaster falls off walls; there are lawsuits.

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